


It's You I'm Worried About

by Rinkafic



Series: John Loves Cam [7]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-13
Updated: 2013-02-13
Packaged: 2017-11-29 04:29:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/682770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinkafic/pseuds/Rinkafic





	It's You I'm Worried About

**Author's Note:**

  * For [skieswideopen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/skieswideopen/gifts).



“What have they done to you?” Cam called from between the bars of his cell. He heard John moaning quietly. Not being able to see him was torture, a secondary agony to the physical pain he felt. His entire face hurt, the worst of the pain centering on his bandaged eyes.

The noise from the next cell stopped abruptly. “Cam? Is that you, Mitchell?”

“Yeah. Are you hurt?”

“A little. They electrocuted me. It hurt like hell. They used the fixer on me after but…”

Cam nodded; the machine only did so much to alleviate the pain. “Yeah, I know.”

“Why are they doing it?”

“They’ve never seen a human; I heard one of them talking as they were putting me under. I think they’re an advanced scouting party. They’re testing us to see what our weaknesses are.”

He felt John’s hand wrap around his. He had to be straining to accomplish that, their cells were just close enough for John to reach him.

“What did they do to you?” John asked.

“I think they might have taken my eyes. I’m too freaked out to think about it. It would mean no flying, if we make it out of here. ”

John squeezed his hand, rubbing his thumb across Cam’s knuckles. “I’m sorry, Cam.” He probably understood better than anyone else why Cam was frightened. He changed the subject. “Do you think Teal’c and Daniel got away?”

“I hope so. They need the warning about these alien mad scientists. Three days. They’ve been poking and prodding at us for three days. They should have been back with a rescue team by now.”

“I think we’re on a ship. Every once in a while I feel the floor thrumming.” John released Cam’s hand; the strain of stretching across to reach him was too much. He slid down the wall separating them, as close to his partner as he could get, as he sat on the floor, huddled in on his pain.

They were both silent for a while. “I’m never going to see your face again, am I?” there was despair in Mitchell’s voice.

“Do not give up on me, Cam. We’re getting out of this.”

“We’re a mess, the pair of us. I saw you before they did this to me, when they were taking you out of here. I know you’re cut up pretty bad.”

“I’ve still got all my parts.”

Cam chuckled. “That’s good; I’m particularly attached to some of your parts, I would hate to see anything happen to them.”

“You’re attached? I’M particularly attached to those same parts.”

They fell silent again, both in too much pain to come up with small talk to pass the time. John had his forehead pressed to his knees, breathing slowly and deeply, taking calming breaths to help him through the pain.

Mitchell broke the silence. “They drowned me. They dropped me in a tank of water and closed the top.” I think I’m going to have some issues when we get out of here, Sheppard.”

“Me too, Cam, try not to think about it.”

“I can’t help thinking about it. There’s nothing else to do but think.”

“Think of other things. Write letters to your mom in your head. Try to reconstruct the Star Wars story in your head. Make a bucket list.”

Cam snorted. “Short list. Very short.”

“Positive thinking, Mitchell. Don’t let them see you sweat.”

The door swished open and one of their captors stomped down the corridor, a long serpentine tail dragging behind it as it came. The creature went to the door of Mitchell’s cell.

“Take me!” John stood up and waved his arm through the bars.

It stopped and turned towards John. “No.” Then it opened the cell and reached for Cam’s arm. “Do not struggle. You know what happens when you struggle.”

John could only listen as Mitchell’s footsteps faded away.

~*~

Rescue came two days later.

The cell door opened and John groaned and curled himself tighter on his bunk in anticipation of another torture session. Instead a the rasping hiss of their torturers, he heard a familiar voice above him ask, “Colonel Sheppard, are you able to walk or do you require assistance?”

He opened his eyes and saw Teal’c staring down at him. “A little of both?” he replied with uncertainty. He tried to get up but fell back down.

Strong hands slipped under his shoulders and lifted him, getting him on his feet. One big arm wrapped under his arm and around his back. “Get his other side.” Teal’c said and someone got under John’s other arm. He opened his eyes, didn’t recognize the marine holding him and closed them again - the light hurt his eyes.

“Where’s Cam?” John mumbled.

“Daniel Jackson is seeing to Colonel Mitchell.”

“Is he alive? He stopped answering me yesterday.”

Teal’c hesitated and then replied, “Colonel Mitchell is alive.”

That was all John needed to know. He let unconsciousness claim him.

~*~

John heard the engines as he woke. Weeks spent traveling on this vessel back and forth to Pegasus made it possible for him to identify the Daedalus’ engines just by the sound. He opened his eyes, blinking against the harsh overhead lights. He lifted a hand to shield him from the brightness.

“Colonel Sheppard, how is your pain level, on a scale of one to ten?”

“Six,” he whispered.

“If you’re admitting to six, it is probably 8, according to Carson Beckett’s notes on your chart. I’m upping your pain medication, don’t fight them, go to sleep.”

“Where’s Mitchell?”

“Asleep, in the bed beside yours, he’s stable now.”

Content with that answer, Sheppard slid back into the darkness the medication offered.

~*~

When he awoke again, he was staring at the ceiling tiles of the SGC infirmary. He turned his head and saw Cam sleeping in the bed beside him. His eyes were bandaged and his arm was in a sling.

Carolyn Lam came up to his bedside. “How are you feeling, Colonel?”

“Still sore. Fuzzy head.”

“You had an infection; the IV antibiotics seem to be knocking it back.” She checked his IV and made an adjustment on the pump.

“How’s Mitchell?”

She glanced over at Mitchell. “Doing well.”

“Did they take his eyes? He said they did something to his eyes.”

“No. The pain he was feeling was from his sinuses. They inserted something there that was causing him the pain. His eyes are fine.”

John breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. That’s good.”

“How’s your pain level?”

“Manageable. Maybe a four.”

“So, six?” She adjusted his pain medication pump.

He looked away and mumbled, “Five and a half.”

“Are you able to move your feet?”

His feet? What the hell? He looked down and saw that he was wrapped in bandages. He shifted his left foot and then his right, the motion pulling and causing a flare of pain. “Ow. But yeah, I can move them.”

“I was concerned. You had a device implanted near your spine. I removed it but I was not certain of the extent of the damages. It’s a good sign that you have mobility.”

John had been so concerned for Cam that he had ignored his own pain, had put the wounds the alien scientists had inflicted upon him out of his mind.

The medication dragged at the edges of the pain and he gave up fighting against it.

~*~

“Shhhh, John. Shhhh. Okay now, you’re safe. Shhhh,” Cam’s said close to his ear. “Just a nightmare.”

John opened his eyes. Cam was leaning over him in the dimmed infirmary light, stroking his face and arm as he made soothing sounds and murmured nonsense near his ear.

He raised one bandaged had to Cam’s cheek. The aliens had done a number on his hands, he remembered that now. He could feel the dull throb of pain just at the edges, where the IV drip of pain meds could not reach. “You’re all right?” John asked.

The bandages were thankfully gone from Cam’s eyes, even in the dim nighttime lighting of the infirmary; John could see worry and concern in the blue depths staring at him so intently. “I’m fine. You were in pretty bad shape.” Cam edged back from the bed a little.

“Don’t go. Stay with me,” he knew he was whining but he didn’t care.

After considering it for a few moments, Cam apparently decided he wouldn’t be doing John any great harm by cuddling with him. “Shift over,” Cam nudged at him. John shimmied over to the edge of the bed and Cam carefully climbed up beside him.

It was safe to sleep now; Cam had his back.


End file.
